Seeing Beyond the Label: Organic Food Label Visual Framing Effect on Consumer Food Preference

ABSTRACT Organic food, as a healthy choice, is more and more favored by consumers. Thus, the process of its visual design elements on consumers' decision‐making must be analyzed. The design elements of food labels (such as color, size, etc.) can influence their cognition perception through perceived fluency, and then affect their food preference and willingness to pay. However, the semiotic function of label frames and their generalizability across consumer populations remain underexplored. In this study, a three‐stage theoretical model of “design element‐attribute association‐cognitive matching” is constructed. To explore the model's applicability for international marketing, we analyze the impact of organic labels (framed or unframed) across two distinct selected participant groups—Chinese consumers and American expatriates in China. The research confirms that organic food labels have visual frame effect, which can drive consumption decisions through food association of safety. Therefore, food manufacturers and marketers need to attach great importance to the visual presentation strategy of label design, and use the label frame design to effectively improve the cognition and purchase intention of consumers to organic food, to further promote the development of the organic food market.